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  2. List of paradoxes - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_paradoxes

    Therefore, it is not opposite day, but if you say it is a normal day it would be considered a normal day, which contradicts the fact that it has previously been stated that it is an opposite day. Richard's paradox : We appear to be able to use simple English to define a decimal expansion in a way that is self-contradictory.

  3. Oxymoron - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxymoron

    Oxymorons are words that communicate contradictions. An oxymoron (plurals: oxymorons and oxymora) is a figure of speech that juxtaposes concepts with opposite meanings within a word or in a phrase that is a self-contradiction. As a rhetorical device, an oxymoron illustrates a point to communicate and reveal a paradox.

  4. Paradox - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox

    Although statements can be self referential without being paradoxical ("This statement is written in English" is a true and non-paradoxical self-referential statement), self-reference is a common element of paradoxes. One example occurs in the liar paradox, which is commonly formulated as the self-referential statement "This statement is false ...

  5. Glossary of rhetorical terms - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_rhetorical_terms

    Symploce – a figure of speech in which several successive clauses have the same first and last words. Synchysis – word order confusion within a sentence. Synecdoche – a rhetorical device where one part of an object is used to represent the whole—e.g., "There are fifty head of cattle." or "Show a leg!" (naval command to get out of bed ...

  6. Speech act - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_act

    The study of speech acts is prevalent in legal theory since laws themselves can be interpreted as speech acts. Laws issue out a command to their constituents, which can be realized as an action. When forming a legal contract, speech acts can be made when people are making or accepting an offer. [41]

  7. Performative utterance - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performative_utterance

    In the philosophy of language and speech acts theory, performative utterances are sentences which not only describe a given reality, but also change the social reality they are describing. In a 1955 lecture series, later published as How to Do Things with Words , J. L. Austin argued against a positivist philosophical claim that the utterances ...

  8. Paradox (literature) - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_(literature)

    In literature, the paradox is an anomalous juxtaposition of incongruous ideas for the sake of striking exposition or unexpected insight. It functions as a method of literary composition and analysis that involves examining apparently contradictory statements and drawing conclusions either to reconcile them or to explain their presence.

  9. Doublethink - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doublethink

    Orwell's doublethink is also credited with having inspired the commonly used term doublespeak, which itself does not appear in the book.Comparisons have been made between doublespeak and Orwell's descriptions on political speech from his essay "Politics and the English Language", in which "unscrupulous politicians, advertisers, religionists, and other 'doublespeakers' of whatever stripe ...